March 18, 2002

AS FED MEETS, NO RATE HIKE - YET

So, when's the rate hike? As The Fed prepares to meet tomorrow, there's increasing speculation that rates will be going up sometime this year. Tomorrow, the Fed is likely to...

PIANO MEN: AILING JOEL, STRUTTING JOHN ROCK GARDEN

WHILE the concept of dusting off the Brit vs. Yank rivalry was hardly revolutionary, the battle of the bands Friday at Madison Square Garden between Billy Joel and Elton John...

RUNNING OUT OF TIME ; FOR 16 YEARS, TV HAS BEEN LOOKING FOR A NEW OPRAH. NOW THINGS ARE GETTING DESPERATE

THE Oprah countdown has begun. Will daytime TV ever be the same after Oprah Winfrey stops hosting her talk show in 2006? Nobody can say for sure but industry experts...

STARR REPORT

'Guilt' trip, Rosie score big numbers Court TV's first original movie scored record ratings last Wednesday. "Guilt By Association," starring Mercedes Ruehl, notched 1.3 million viewers from 9 to 11...

THE NIGHT FOR 'DAME'

THE St. James Theater had better have a lot of dressing rooms because it's about to be overrun. By dames. Tonight, for one night only, Bebe Neuwirth, Cynthia Nixon, Kathleen...

MAHER TAUNTS TED

NOW it's Bill Maher's turn to rip "Nightline" host Ted Koppel. Maher, whose "Politically Incorrect" show follows "Nightline" on ABC, said in an interview with a Seattle newspaper that Koppel...

ROCKIN' HUDSON: GOLDIE HAWN'S KID REVEALS HIS SECRETS

WHERE have Kate and Goldie been hiding Oliver Hudson?The 26-year-old actor - who grew up in one of Hollywood's most famous families - made his TV debut last week on...

SAY WHAT? IF YOU EVER WONDERED WHY BABIES CAN'T TALK, 'BABY BOB' IS THE ANSWER

"Baby Bob" Tonight at 8:30 on WCBS/Ch. 2 ½ star WHAT do you get if you combine "ALF" and "Look Who's Talking?" Let me answer that for you. You get...

IF WE COULD DRESS THEM ... THE POST OUTFITS OSCAR'S LEADING LADIES IN LOOKS FROM THE FALL RUNWAYS

Oscar night is the most important night of the year not only for Hollywood, but for the fashion world, too. Many of us will remember what the actresses wore long...

MURDER TAKES A HOLIDAY: MANHATTAN SLAY RATE LOWEST IN 100 YEARS

A modern New Yorker would have to take a time machine back to the late 1890s to find an era when the murder rate was as low in Manhattan as...

NEW TRIAL FOR 'NICKY NO SOCKS'

When Nicholas "Nicky No Socks" Facciolo was first tried for murder a few years ago, one witness came down with a sudden bout of amnesia, and another claimed he was...

FLOCK URGES EGAN: COME CLEAN ABOUT DIRTY PRIESTS

Roman Catholics attending Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral yesterday said it's time for the church to get tough with pervert priests. The church - already reeling from sex allegations -...

WIERD BUT TRUE

The estate of Elvis Presley is all shook up over a rival who plans to build an Elvis theme park eight miles away from Graceland. J.D. Stacy, a real-estate czar...

EX-BEAU BODYGUARD SELLS MADONNA UNDIES

The intimate materials of the Material Girl are being put up for sale by one of her former lovers. Bodyguard Jim Albright is trying to sell his collection of bras...

HORRIFIED FLOCK: 'THERE WAS BLOOD, BLOOD, BLOOD'

Within seconds, Islamabad's Protestant International Church was transformed into a war zone yesterday as a grenade-hurling bomber splattered worshippers' hymn books with blood and splintered their red plastic chairs. "There...

BRUNO RIPS SILVER FOR 9/11 REMARK

--EXCLUSIVE-- ASSEMBLY Speaker Sheldon Silver has been "irresponsible, insensitive, irrational and unfair" in a dispute over the Sept. 11 tragedy, the Legislature's top Republican charged yesterday. Senate Majority Leader Joseph...

SAUDI CHIEF WILL GO RANCHING WITH W.

WASHINGTON - President Bush will soon get to show off the trails and waterfalls on his 1,600-acre ranch to another foreign leader. After spurning an invitation back in June, Saudi...

DROUGHT CRISIS IN FORECAST

A drought emergency will be declared for New York this week - city officials just have to decide when it will come into effect. "I don't see how we can...

CIA EYED FOR PALESTINIAN WATCHDOG ROLE

A plan to put full-time CIA monitors in Palestinian Authority jails and offices is the latest proposal put forward by U.S. special envoy Anthony Zinni as he struggles to broker...

REV.'S MASS APPEAL: PITY MY SEX ACCUSER

The Brooklyn priest accused of molesting a young boy who himself grew up to be a Catholic priest strongly denied the claims to his flock yesterday during Mass. But the...

'DOWN & DIRTY' OSCARS

A notably nasty Oscar race is going down to the wire - ballots are due tomorrow and the awards are next Sunday - with mudslinging and denials flying fast and...

NETANYAHU MAPS PLAN TO GET RID OF ARAFAT

Bibi's back - with a drastic plan to end the Middle East conflict. A tough-talking Benjamin Netanyahu told Time magazine that Israel should invade the West Bank and Gaza Strip...

PEACE TALKS AMID THE TERROR

JERUSALEM - Suicide attackers threw up new roadblocks on the path to a Mideast cease-fire yesterday, but U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni managed to bring Israeli and Palestinian security commanders together...

NYU RAPE SUSPECT ARRESTED IN R.I.

Police yesterday nabbed a man suspected of raping two Manhattan women after detectives traced him to a Rhode Island motel and strip joint, officials said. NYPD cops traveled to Providence...

MOM, TEEN DIE IN CHURCH ATTACK: U.S. DIPLO FAMILY HAD FLED PAKISTAN BEFORE RETURNING

An American mom and teenage daughter killed in a Pakistan church bombing yesterday had returned to the strife-torn country only weeks ago after they were evacuated following Sept. 11, grief-stricken...

EX-CHANCELLOR: GIVE ED. BOARD THE BOOT

EXCLUSIVE Former Schools Chancellor Frank Macchiarola has joined forces with Mayor Bloomberg in calling for elimination of the Board of Education. "We'd be better off if we didn't have a...

BRIDGE TOLLS A RAIL GOOD DEAL FOR SUBURB LINES

The Bloomberg administration's proposal to let the MTA collect tolls at the city's East River bridges could provide hundreds of millions of dollars to mass transit - in the suburbs....

AL QAEDA'S SAFE HAVEN

TO sustain a successful guerilla war, it helps to have a safe rear area in a friendly or neutral state. The Viet Cong had them in Laos and Cambodia. The...

ANGUISHED MALCOLM X KIN IN BIDDER STRUGGLE

IF THERE is any family in all of America that could seriously use a break, it is the Shabazz family, of Malcolm and Betty fame. Mercifully, a San Francisco auction...

'70S GRAFT-BUSTER IN PARDONGATE FLAP

WASHINGTON - Marie Ragghianti, a Tennessee corruption fighter whose crusading story spawned a book and a movie, is battling to maintain her reputation amid new revelations in the Roger Clinton...

IT'S $TAR POWER BY THE HOUR

Show me the money! Celebrity truly is the ultimate asset and fame really does equal fortune - from pampered movie stars and singers to athletes and politicians. In December, perky...

PROTESTERS ON DISPLAY AT OPENING OF 'NAZI' EXHIBIT

Despite chants of "Don't go in!" and "Shame, shame!" several hundred art enthusiasts took a walk on the curious side and grabbed a peek at the controversial "Mirroring Evil: Nazi...

IT'S NOT JUST A TERRIBLE IDEA - THE ART STINKS, TOO

FOES of the Jewish Museum are only half right. Having twice seen "Mirroring Evil," the museum's puerile show inspired by the murders of 6million Jews, I can't decide whether this...

COPS NAB NYU RAPE SUSPECT

Police yesterday nabbed a man suspected of raping two Manhattan women after detectives traced him to a Rhode Island motel and strip joint, officials said. Cops traveled to Providence to...

FINAL CURTAIN FOR 'PRODUCERS' LANE & BRODERICK

Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick kissed "The Producers" goodbye yesterday as they ended their sold-out year in Broadway's top show. They were greeted by a thunderous standing ovation - and...

S.I. SUITCASE CORPSE TIED TO KIDNAP

Cops believe a murder victim dumped on Staten Island in a suitcase was kidnapped in Queens last week, police sources told The Post. Cops responding to a call of an...

'ANACONDA' JUST START OF SQUEEZE ON AL QAEDA

WASHINGTON - As U.S. and Canadian forces continued mop-up operations in the Afghan mountains over the weekend, a U.S. commando said the bloody Battle of Gardez may be over -...

BEGGING FOR BLIGHT

What, Osama didn't do enough to scare away the tourists? Now the Department of Homeless Services has decided to rent out the Aladdin Hotel in Times Square to what it...

LEYRITZ UPSET HE NEVER HAD A CHANCE

YANKEE NOTES TAMPA - Jim Leyritz wasn't angry when given his walking papers yesterday. But he was disappointed the Yankees didn't give him a longer look. "The only disappointing thing...

JAX STILL POSTS BIG NUMBERS; INSPIRED PLAY TURNS BACK DOUBTERS

CLEVELAND - Just when you want to write him off, just when you wonder if coach Don Chaney should stick with a point-guard rotation of Howard Eisley and Charlie Ward,...

MAYAKOVSKY MANHANDLES GOTHAM FIELD

Yesterday's Grade 3, $200,000 Gotham Stakes at the Big A, run at a mile around one turn, was billed as a two-horse race between a pair of classy colts making...

CAMBY EYEING RETURN

KNICK NOTES CLEVELAND - With one month left to the season, Marcus Camby still has not given up hope that he will make it back for the final few games....

ILLINOIS AND WILLIAMS TOO MUCH FOR BLUEJAYS

MIDWEST Illinois 72Creighton 60 CHICAGO - They could have played this one at the Garden, or inside some cave in Bora Bora, and it still would have come out Illinois...

WORKOUT LEAVES PETTITTE BEAMING

Yanks (ss) 8Blue Jays 7 TAMPA - The breaking balls had bite even if they weren't thrown at full tilt. The final three fastballs crackled. Consequently, Andy Pettitte felt much...

LEITER EASES SOME WORRIES

Braves 6Mets (ss) 5 PORT ST. LUCIE - Al Leiter's solid outing was worth more than the sum of his pitches yesterday. That was particularly true of the lefty's first...

KENT DOESN'T WANT ANY GLASS HIGHTOPS

SOUTH Things got off to bumpy start for first-year Kent State head coach Stan Heath (left), but with Golden Flashes 25-1 in their last 26 and headed to Sweet 16,...

NETS: MARTIN'S A MARKED MAN

MEMPHIS - The Nets are bothered and bewildered - nah, not bewitched but pretty ticked - charging the NBA has a "double standard" in dealing with penalties and that Kenyon...

CASE OF DEJA ADIEU ; NO. 1 CINCINNATI OUSTED IN SECOND ROUND AGAIN

WEST / 2 OTsUCLA 105Cincy 101 PITTSBURGH - For all the good that Bob Huggins has done for the elite Cincinnati basketball program over the last 11 years, he and...

UCONN GETS CALL, WIN

EASTUConn 77N.C. St. 74 WASHINGTON - He had the ball, digging in, about to make a move to sink or save UConn. Caron Butler knew his favored Huskies were clinging...

CATS PLAYIN' WITH BIG-TIME APPEAL

EAST ST. LOUIS - It had the elements of such a feel-good story replete with school spirit triumphing over the almighty dollar. Tayshaun Prince, who had registered for the NBA...

I'M FEELING CHEATED, HODGE SAYS

WASHINGTON - He made a vow that what happened yesterday at the MCI Center will not happen again. "This will just be another bump on my road I will have...

NOTHING WORTH WATCHING

Red Wings 5Rangers 3 The NHL video-replay system is supposed to check mistakes like the one committed at the Garden yesterday afternoon by Mick McGeough. But for whatever reason, it...

SATHER'S DECISION: BURE OR POTI?

HERE'S the situation: With 12 games to go and one day left to deal, Montreal has two games in hand and Glen Sather has two trades in hand, either one...

HARD-NOSED 'D' POWERS PITT

SOUTHPittsburgh 63California 50 PITTSBURGH - Two days ago, Pittsburgh won its first NCAA Tournament game since 1991. Yesterday, Pitt captured a second NCAA Tournament victory in one year for the...

TERPS KEEP 'RUN' GOING

EASTMaryland 87Wisconsin 57 WASHINGTON - Even the Maryland players don't know when, "The Run," is going to come or who's going to be the catalyst. The Terps just have this...

SALUKIS SHOW GA. WHO'S TOP 'DAWG

EASTSo. Illinois 77Georgia 75 CHICAGO - Beware, UConn Huskies. A gritty pack of Salukis with more bite than bark is coming for you - and you better expect a dogfight....

CHRIST THE KING GOIN' BACK TO GLENS FALLS

CHSAA GIRLS 'A'CTK 80St. Peter's 47 A Christ the King state Federation title had virtually become a rite of spring. The Royals had won each championship since 1990 and when...

CAVS CATCH KNICKS NAPPING; CHANEY'S BOYS FALL IN SNOOZEFEST

Cavs 104Knicks 99 CLEVELAND - Early in the fourth quarter, the few Cleveland fans that bothered to show up for this playing-out-the-string affair between two lottery clubs chanted "Zzzz" in...

MING CAN BE SHANGHAIED

KNICK NOTES CLEVELAND - If the Knicks hit the lottery jackpot and select 7-6 center Yao Ming with the first or second pick, expect the team to head to China...

PUNCHLESS DEVILS LET ONE GET AWAY

OVERTIMECanucks 3Devils 2 These Devils await the verdict, whether this spurt of 7-of-8 points will fool the GM into doing little by tomorrow's trade deadline. They expect this latest inadequate...

CBS HAS NCAAS NAILED

I'VE been waiting 20 years to write this: CBS's early-round NCAA Tournament coverage - the hard part - has been terrific. To quote Comic Book Guy, "Best episode ever." The...

GOMEZ IS RECEIVING PLENTY OF ATTENTION

The only thing uncertain is from which direction the Scott Gomez smoke blows, whether to or from the Devils. Yet another team is said to be talking to the Devils...

NO KENYON, NO PROBLEM FOR NETS : CLINCH FIRST WINNING SEASON SINCE '97-98

Nets 87 Grizzlies 76 MEMPHIS - The road lately had been as welcome for the Nets as a hair dryer in the shower. Seven straight defeats on foreign floors had...

GORYNSKI'S HEROICS LIFT TERRIERS TO TITLE

CHSAA GIRLS 'B' St. Francis 59 Our Lady 44 St. Francis Prep has been in this situation before. With the Terriers' 59-44 win over Our Lady of Mercy (Syosset), Prep...